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Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, the ONCE rider who wore the leader's yellowjersey in last year's Tour de France, has been suspended for six monthsin France by its national anti-doping body CPLD. Tuesday’s announcement means that Galdeano will have to miss this summer'sTour de France, the most prestigious cycling event in the world. The Basque rider, who finished fifth in last year's race having spentseven days in yellow, was punished after positive tests for Salbutamol,including one from after the sixth stage of last season's race. Cycling's world governing body UCI did not ban the rider,

On a whim, decided to head out West to Fruita, Colorado for a little get-away before the racing season slams into high gear. Didn't realize our little rendezvous coincided snack-dab with the 2003 Fruita Fat Tire Festival. "All the better," I figured. I mean, the more the merrier when it comes to riding bikes–or so I thought until I tried to reserve a hotel room in a sold-out town. Lucking out with a last-minute cancellation at the ol' Super 8, VeloNews's own Jason Sumner, my old riding pal, Vegan Bob, and I were off to be a part of one of the largest off-road festivals in the United States

Eddy Merckx

Dirty is bad

Clean is good!

Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn

Fabian Cancellara

Laurent Dufaux

Hamilton

Moos

Cancellara takes Romandie opener

Galdeano can't race in France for six months.

Bob threads the needle in Fruita

SRAM's new X-7 trigger shifter (in limited-edition red)

Buff Headwear–perfect for when you work-up a sweat

ShockDoctor Footbeds

Lance Armstrong's 2004 Trek OCLV prototype with '04 Dura-Ace

Tyler Hamilton’s dramatic victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège was the lead sports story in European newspapers Monday (well… after soccer news, of course). “Hamilton, the first,” read the French daily L’Equipe. “An American in Liège,” wrote Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport. “The Other American,” wrote Spain’s MARCA. Hamilton’s win was the first by an American at “La Doyenne,” the oldest classic in cycling. Greg LeMond finished third in 1984, beaten in a sprint by Irishman Sean Kelly and Aussie Phil Anderson. Armstrong was runner-up in both 1994 and 1996 and the Texan entered Sunday’s race as the

Podium Shots from the final day of the 2003 Tour de Georgia

Word from the Trek-Volkswagen camp is that while Roland Green is beat up pretty bad, he should be fine come the NORBA NCS season opener, May 17-18, at Big Bear Lake, California. According to Eric Wallace, the Trek-VW team manager, Green received 13 stitches in his face after crashing out of the final stage of the Tour de Georgia road race in Atlanta on Sunday. “He has three on his left orbital, two below his left eye and the rest are on his lip,” said Wallace, describing the state of the two-time defending world cross-country champion. “He’s completely bruised and battered in the face, but

Final Stage winners (left to right): Fred Rodriguez, David Clinger, & Moreno Di Biase

KOM, Overall and rookie winners

The top three overall winners (left to right): Fred Rodriguez (2nd place), Chris Horner (first place), Nathan O'Neill (3rd place)

Time to celebrate...

Horner can't contain his exuberance as he displays his custom trophy

If Tyler Hamilton doesn’t achieve any thing else in his career — and he certainly will — his stunning victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday will always hold a special place in his heart. Shortly after winning the 89th edition of the world’s oldest classics (and one of the toughest) on a rainy afternoon in the green hills of the Belgian Ardennes, he made a cell-phone call to his wife Haven at their home in Gerona, Spain. “She just screamed,” Tyler reported. “She had just as hard a job as I did of believing what’s happened.”

Saturday’s stage from Dalton to Gainesville pretty much sealed the overall Dodge Tour de Georgia victory for Saturn’s Chris Horner, but there was still some unfinished business and suspense left for the grand finale in downtown Atlanta on Sunday. In the end, though, there was no catching Horner. Meanwhile, Fred Rodriguez fell short of a third consecutive stage win when Prime Alliance’s David Clinger scored his biggest victory for his new team. The race began on a near-perfect afternoon, under sunny skies at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park in downtown. On the docket was 10 laps of a fast

Saeco’s Gilberto Simoni won the Tour of Trentino in northern Italy on Sunday in a key warm-up race for the upcoming Giro d’Italia. Simoni, who lives in the Trentino region, won the decisive second stage ahead of the resurgent Stefano Garzelli (Sidermec) and finished safely in the main bunch Sunday to score his first stage-race of the 2003 season. Italian Michele Gobbi (De Nardi-Colpack) took the stage ahead of compatriot Rinaldo Nocentini (Pinzolo) in the 156km finale from Caldonozza to Arco. Tour of Trentino (UCI 2.2), stage 4, Caldonozza to Arco, 156km 1.Michele Gobbi (I), De

As it was in the beginning, so it was at the end of the 25th La Vuelta de Bisbee, as Andrew Miller and Manon Jutras won their respective final stages and collected their overall titles. Miller (Landis-Trek-VW) and Jutras (Saturn) were the victors in the Mule Pass prologue on Friday evening, the kickoff to the weekend’s racing in southern Arizona. But while Jutras held her lead throughout La Vuelta, winning three of four stages along the way, Miller lost his yellow leader’s jersey to Viktor Rapinski after the Saturn rider won Saturday afternoon’s Warren Time Trial. Come Sunday, and the

For the last few weeks I feel like these diaries have been my gripes, and excuses as to why Prime Alliance isn't winning. I wouldn't blame anyone who interpreted them that way, but I would give them an earful. Anyhow, I'm not really an excuse maker by nature, I just try to explain things as objectively as I can… it’s just that sometimes it comes across as an excuse. Sometimes it's just depressing, but today my “logical explanation” of events can be summed up with a resounding “good JOB!” Today also was justification and redemption for out ill-fated strategy of yesterday. Just think, if we

Hamilton enjoys a special moment.

... Armstrong was quick to follow.

Those last two kilometers were hard... but worth it.

The oldest and one of the toughest of the classics.

Merckx goes on the Côte de la Redoute...

Julich

Merckx

The man makes his move

The favorites were left to chase

Rodriguez (left) and Clinger (right) made it a close one

Rodriguez, Horner and best young rider, Raisin

Saturn on patrol... shadowed by Rodriguez

Steve Larsen tries his luck

Through it all, Saturn kept a watchful eye on things

Only four Tour de France winners have won Liège-Bastogne-Liège:Eddy Merckx (a record five times), Bernard Hinault and Ferdi Kubler (bothtwice), and Jacques Anquetil (once). Lance Armstrong would like to be the fifth. This Sunday will see the Texan on the start line at Liège foronly the fifth time in his career. Prior to his cancer diagnosis, he finishedsecond in 1994, sixth in 1995 and second again in 1996. He returned towhat is the world’s oldest bicycle classic (founded in 1894) only lastyear, when he finished 65th, 8:12 behind winner Paolo Bettini, after ridingthe 258.5km race in support

Dear Editor;Thanks for the live coverage. As someone who doesn't get OLN I look forward to your live coverage of the classics. The only problem is that it has been taking away from my graduate school work. I keep checking back every five minutes instead of studying!! I may fail, but at least I'll know how the sprint finished. Keep up the great work.Todd ShapiroTodd, we appreciate your comments, but would also like to apologize for the spotty coverage we've had out of the Tour of Georgia this year. We seem to have a good system in place for the big European races and will have a full crew

Chris Horner wanted a hard day. He got it. On Saturday’s stage 4 at the Dodge Tour de Georgia, the race blew apart as anticipated, and the major players of the first four days were all in the spotlight. Navigators and Henk Vogels were on the hotseat after defending the race lead for the past two stages; Horner and Saturn were in the driver's seat, with a course finally suited to their strengths; and Fred Rodriguez continued to exact his revenge following the time penalty he was assessed on stage 1. In the end, Rodriguez won his second stage in a row, Horner took the yellow jersey, and

Gilberto Simoni (Saeco) remained in charge of the Tour of Trentino after a long break dominated Saturday's 165km third stage. Elio Aggiano (Pinzolo) won ahead of three other riders that stayed away for most of the stage from Fondo to Levico Terme in northern Italy. Stefano Garzelli (Sidermec) won the bunch sprint at 8 seconds back to take fifth after the lead group couldn't reel in the break. Simoni finished safely with the peloton to retain the overall lead going into Sunday's 118km final stag, which shouldn't present any major problems for Simoni and his motivated Saeco team. Tour of

Looks like organizer Albert Hopper was right: His 25th La Vuelta de Bisbee may very well boil down to the final climb in today’s Tombstone Road Race. Saturday was a double-stage day in southern Arizona, beginning in the morning with the Sulphur Springs Road Race. After a fairly mellow ride that didn’t see much action until the final miles of the elite men’s 79.3-mile stage, on a long, wide 5-percent grade back into town, Gord Fraser (Health Net) outkicked Saturn teammates Viktor Rapinski and Ivan Dominguez to claim the victory. Nothing was getting away in the 45.8-mile women’s race,

This is about all I can say about how our day went at Tour of Georgia. We tried. No, we didn't actually miss the key move today. Missing a move is to imply "oops I guess we should have been there". No, we did that at Redlands. Here we had a good strategy, carried out perfectly… and then were simply out-powered. We had our man Svein in the early break. We had everyone nice and fresh at the bottom of the last climb, and then we just got smashed. The best laid plansOur plan was to keep David Clinger (who climbs better than Henk, but not as well as the top guys) as close to the leaders as

While the "other" cycling event in Georgia has garnered the headlines this week, the Athens Twilight just kept on partying this weekend as if nothing had happened. And in front of the big, festive Twilight crowd on Saturday night, Genesis Scuba’s Candice Blickem and 7UP-Maxxis’s Dan Schmatz took the biggest wins of their careers in solo fashion. The women’s favorite, former Georgia Bulldog Tina Mayolo-Pic (Diet Rite), had her problems early on, crashing hard about 10 laps into the race when her front tire punctured. Despite hitting her head hard, Mayolo-Pic got back in the race and was

Bartoli has to be among the favorites for Sunday

Armstrong wants this one

Preview: Armstrong aims at Liège-Bastogne-Liège

The men in charge: Rodriguez gets another stage; Horner gets the jersey

Saul Raisin and fans

Landis and company on the move

Vaughters works to bring Clinger back to the leaders.

Workin' for David

Gord Fraser outkicks a pair of Saturns in the morning stage.

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Blickem and Schmatz party at Twilight

Saeco's Gilberto Simoni won Friday's climbing stage of the Tour of Trentino in northern Italy and bounced into the overall lead. Simoni and yesterday's winner Stefano Garzelli (Sidermec) traded places, with Simoni taking the flowers this time ahead of the resurgent Garzelli. The opening two days of Tour of Trentino give a nice glimpse of who's in form for the upcoming Giro d'Italia, with both Simoni and Garzelli looking sharp. The race continues with Saturday's 165km third stage from Fondo to Levico Terme. Stage 2, Tour of Trentino (UCI 2.2), Moena to Ronzone 1. Gilberto Simoni (I), Saeco,

Before I dive headlong into my notebook from the Tour de Georgia, er, the Dodge Tour de Georgia, I have to take a few minutes to say thanks to State Trooper Stewart of the Georgia State Patrol, who was kind enough to drive me to the finish line of Thursday’s stage in Columbus after the Navigators team car I was riding in got a flat tire. After logging onto the VN Web site and checking back on our final-hour live coverage, I realize that my editors took a few, um, liberties with the details, so here’s the rest of the story. The Navs pulled over with the flat about 10 miles from the finish.

After a rocky start to his Dodge Tour de Georgia, Fred Rodriguez has just been taking things day by day. Fortunately for the American, things have been getting better with each passing stage. On Friday, the Vini Caldirola rider outsprinted Prime Alliance’s David Clinger and U.S. Postal’s Tony Cruz to take the stage 3 win after 138 miles from Pine Mountain to Rome. Meanwhile, Navigators Henk Vogels retained the race leader’s jersey while a war of words between Saturn and Navigators heated up. Rodriguez was still upset after being assessed a 20-second time penalty for motorpacing after a crash

La Vuelta de Bisbee kicked off its 25th year of bicycle racing in southern Arizona on Friday afternoon with the Mule Pass Time Trial, a little leg-stretcher that climbed 837 feet in just 2.8 miles. Andrew Miller (Landis-Trek-VW) won the elite men’s prologue in 9:42, well short of Malcolm Elliott’s 1993 mark of 9:18, but still 15 seconds ahead of Mike Sayers (Health Net), Miller’s teammate Scott Price, and Saturn’s Viktor Rapinski, all of whom were given the same time as Sayers and Price. Cyclo-crosser Todd Wells (Hyundai-Mongoose) rounded out the top five a further three seconds back. Among

Tantalizing treats available throughout the Tour

Rodriguez made an earlier try at escape with Saturn's Horner

Lionel Syne and the long and lonely road